Improvement in paper shirt-collars



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SOLOMON S. GRAY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER SHIRT-COLLARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,160, dated April 14, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SOLOMON S. GRAY, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Paper ShirtCollars; and I do hereby decla-re that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

The drawing represents a perspective view of the collar as fastened round apersons neck.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvement, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

All paper shirt-collars hitherto constructed have been lat strips of paper having neither curve nor angle in their sides, and the great objection to such collars is that (their sides being straight)they tit too closely around a persons neck, and their upper edges cut and chate the skin; and, moreover, for the same reasoni. c., the straightness of the sides ofthe collar-a necktie or handkerchief round the collar is apt to slip up unless conined by a pin.

The nature of my invention therefore consists in making paper shirt-collars with a curve or angle in their sides, in order that the upper part may be iiaring, so as neither to tit too close nor cut and chafe the wearers neck, while at the same time the angle or curve in the side will prevent a necktie or handkerchief from slipping up, being in this latter respect equal to the best of linen collars.

I make my collars of any of the various kinds of paper suitable for such a purpose, and of any desirable fashion, and confine them to the shirt by means of button-holes c in the usual manner. In the iirst place, I take a at strip of paper, and with suitable dies or knives out out the collar and button-holes, which operation leaves the collar with straight sides, like all the papercollars in general use. The

lower part, B, of the collar is flat; butin order to make the top part, A, :dare out a little, and for the objects speciiied above, I press, roll, or hammer out the paper from the line d to the upper edge, as represented in the drawings; and to perform this operation most eieotually and rapidly I make use of a die or former, such as is generally used for striking up 7 or forming tin and other metals. Thus thecut-out collar being placed in the proper position in the machine, a single blow or pressure of the die permanently expands the upper part, A, of the collar, leaving it struck up 7 and in the most desirable shape. It is obvious, however, that the side of the collar may have a gradual curve in place oit' the angle shown in the drawing. The bottom part, B, may also be made alittle iiarin g, if desirable, at the same operation. I am thus enabled to produce a paper collar shaped exactly like the nicest linen collars, in which the lower part, B, is a dat piece of straight cloth sewed to the upper part, A, which is concave at the bottom, in order to give the requisite flare to the collar, so that it may stand out from the wearers neck, and keep the necktie or handkerchief` from slipping up. Striking up77 the collar also compresses the paper, and thereby renders it considerably harder and stiffer than a paper collar of the usual construction.

Having thus described the construction and operation of my improvement, what I claim as new, and desire to'secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

Asa new article of manufacture, apaper shirt-collar struck up or pressed from a iiat piece into any desirable form, substantially as described, and for the objects specitied.

SOLOMON S. GRAY.

Witnesses:

N. AMES, N. EVANS, J r. 

